Gina Tesoriero was a special education science teacher for ten years. She is now working towards a Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Human Development at the University of Washington. Gina is interested in working with teachers to create flexible and equitable science and engineering learning environments.

Ying-Ting Chiu is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the Ohio State University, Columbus. Chiu’s area of study is Language, Education and Society with an emphasis on science education for students with visual impairments. Prior to the pursuit of Ph.D., Chiu’s education, including her major in physics and master’s in science education, serves as the foundation of her area of study. Her current research interests focus on inclusive curriculum design, hands-on material adaptation, conceptual understanding, and science identity. Chiu had worked for three non-profit foundations that all serve students with special needs. Her work experience and the training in visual impairment that she had completed in the first two years of her Ph.D. program has led her to better serve students with visual impairments in learning science.

Megan serves as a Licensing Analyst and Licensing Manager at The Ohio State University. Megan obtained her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, received a Master’s in Bioengineering from the University of Utah, and earned a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Colorado State University.

Dr. Margo Vreeburg Izzo is the Program Director of Transition Services at the Nisonger Center, a University Center of Excellence on Disabilities at the Ohio State University.  With over 36 years of experience in the special education field, Margo has extensive experience with the transition from high school to college and careers.  Currently, Margo is the Principal Investigator of six grants designed to improve the academic, transition and employment outcomes of students with disabilities at both the secondary and postsecondary levels.  Margo has developed educational curricula for students with disabilities, conducted numerous trainings, focus groups, and interviews with teachers and students, and has published 25 peer-reviewed articles and five book chapters on disability and transition issues. In 1996, she was awarded the Mary E. Switzer Fellowship from the National Institute of Disability Rehabilitation Research.  Margo served on the AUCD Board of Directors as Chair of the Council on Research and Evaluation (CORE). As Past President of the Division of Career Development and Transition, she provides leadership to national, state and regional committees to improve the quality of educational and transition services.

Margo’s most recent 2016 publication is a book she co-authored with LeDerick Horne entitled: Empowering Students with Hidden Disabilities: A Path to Pride and Success, published by Brookes Publishing Co. As professionals with hidden disabilities, the co-authors share their story of making peace with their own disability and developing disability pride. More information about Empowering Students with Hidden Disabilities can be found here. For more information, please see Margo’s website at www.margoizzophd.com.

Charles McFadden (or Chaz as his friends tend to call him) grew up in Akron, Ohio. His recognition of the value technology can bring to society began when he came across an interactive, computerized typewriter, his first experience with a fully accessible and responsive system. The experience stayed with him and eventually led him to study computer science in college. Chaz is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Computer Science and Villanova University with an MBA. He holds a Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT) credential from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). He currently serves as Chair of the Board Directors for the Deaf Hearing Communication Centre (DHCC) in Philadelphia, as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Pittsburgh, and as member of the Board of Directors for the RIT/NTID Alumni Association in Rochester. He currently is the Chief Technology Officer at Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD), and leads the CSD Engineering initiative, which designs and innovates technologies through a deaf-centered lens.

Courtney Leverenz is a junior in aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). She works at CU Aerospace as an Undergraduate Engineering Research Assistant and manages the 3D printers and laser cutter for her University’s Department of Aerospace. Courtney is a member of the executive board of the Illinois Space Society and has heavily participated in various technical projects including rocketry, mission design, and tool development initiatives. Courtney is the organizer of the S.O.L.A.R. Power Project (Space-Oriented Learning and EmPOWERment), an educational outreach event specifically designed for individuals with disabilities. This event was inspired by Courtney’s sister who is diagnosed with Autism. The S.O.L.A.R Power Project offers guidance and encouragement for all individuals to become involved with STEM and is hosted through the Illinois Space Society.

Dr. Vicki-Lynn Holmes participates in the scholarly blend of mathematics and education. Her research focuses on the pedagogy of teaching mathematics and the statistical underpinnings that allow research to drive instruction. Her passion is education reform that enables all children to learn and excel in mathematics. She has served as the regional director of Michigan’s National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM), conducted Teaching Algebra Concepts through Technology (TACT2) workshops for the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District, and has written three books, two algebra textbooks and numerous peer-reviewed journal articles.

Dr. Holmes holds two doctorates (in mathematics and religion), two master’s degrees (in mathematics and English) and a bachelor of arts degree in linguistics. Dr. Holmes joined the Hope faculty in 2009. Earlier, she founded Wilson Academy, a school in Atlanta for boys who had fallen through the cracks. Dr. Holmes also has served as a principal and a teacher of English and of mathematics at public and private schools in California, Georgia and Maryland. While completing her doctoral studies she taught as an adjunct instructor at Brown Mackie College and DeVry University.

Nicole Johnson is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Boulder in the ATLAS (Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society) Institute. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in biophysics from Central Washington University and has five years of experience producing tactile graphics for higher education textbooks used by blind or visually impaired students nationwide. Research topics include accessible STEM content, tactile graphic usability, and innovations in technology that will improve alternative-media systems in education.

Tema Krempley is an Autistic individual/woman who is completing her graduate degree at The Ohio State University College of Social Work. She is currently working as an intern, fulfilling her advanced field placement hours at the Nisonger Center. Her responsibilities include facilitating Aspirations group sessions, a 10-week social skills program, and mentoring students in the Ace! program to develop independent life skills, social communication skills, and employment skills. Additionally, she has a strong interest in Nisonger's Early Childhood Education Center. Tema has created a four-week curriculum on self-advocacy that will include the topics of self-awareness, communication, leadership, and knowledge of rights. The program will take place in June of 2019 at the Nisonger Center. Tema has extensive background in a variety of interventions for Autism from diverse fields; these include Special Education, Applied Behavioral Analysis, and Social Work. Furthermore, she is a speaker and panelist who has presented in classes, schools, county panels, and a statewide conference. Tema is a practiced self-advocate who has used her skills in school, work, political, and social venues.

Courtney is the Director of Theatre Education at Columbus Children’s Theatre (CCT) and holds a MA in Educational Theatre in Colleges and Communities from New York University. While at NYU Courtney stage managed two seasons of Shakespeare to Go! (a company that tours abridged Shakespeare to K-12 students across NYC), studied community-engaged theatre in Dublin, Ireland, and worked in a Manhattan elementary school through America Reads. She also earned a BA in Theatre from the College of Wooster where, for her Senior Independent Study, Courtney created educational outreach programs for the mainstage season and was an education intern with The 52^nd Street Project (NY, NY).

Her stage management credits at Wooster included Nocturne, which opened the 2007 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Courtney has also worked as an after school and summer camp director for nonprofit organizations in both New York and Columbus, OH. Her work at CCT includes directing and facilitating the organization’s accessible programming including Sensory Friendly trainings and performances, Touch Tours, and the administration for Audio Described and ASL interpreted performances. Courtney currently serves on the CCT Strategic Planning Committee, the Kennedy Center’s 2019 LEAD Conference Content Committee, and the 2019 standards revisions working group for Ohio’s Learning Standards for Fine Arts- Drama.

Jason Gepperth is a passionate advocate for “beyond accommodation” developmental programming that addresses systematic gaps in college achievement and employability in the disability realm. He is the Program Coordinator for Ohio’s STEM Ability Alliance at Wright State University, a National Science Foundation grant-funded initiative designed to address the underrepresentation of individuals with disabilities in STEM fields. This program has been a success in longevity, size, and scope, generating results for an at-risk population in retention, graduation, and grad school/employment placement far surpassing Wright State University’s general population as well as State of Ohio and national outcomes. He is the #1 college site recruiter out of 360 participating institutions for the 2019-2020 Workforce Recruitment Program, an initiative designed to increase disability representation in the federal workforce, and provides a range of disability-specific career programming and support that has led hundreds of WRP participants to receive federal internships and jobs over the last few years. His most recent effort is the Autism-At-Work collaboration between himself and the Wright Patterson Air Force Base. This program, piloted in the Spring of 2018, is the first federal autism-specific hiring and sustained employment initiative in the United States and was singled out for distinction at an annual disability forum at the Pentagon for the Department of Defense in December 2018. Jason hopes that this program will continue to address concerns related to un/underemployment for degree-holding members of the Autism community.

Molly Fore currently serves in the Department of Defense (DoD) as Strategic Advisor, Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) Affirmative Employment Program (AEP) at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH. Ms. Fore functions as principal AEP Manager for the AF’s largest command that executes a $60 billion annual budget and a workforce of approximately 80,000 military/civilian personnel located at 96 distinct locations around the world.

She directly governs a functional staff of 54 employment professionals across nine national sites to ensure federal AEP legal compliance for AFMC. Ms. Fore diligently works with AFMC senior leadership to shape an inclusive and dynamic workforce to deliver war –winning expeditionary capabilities and provides oversight, direction and control for all AEP and Special Emphasis activities within AFMC. In her current role within AFMC, she also serves as the command subject matter expert on a variety of civilian personnel staffing functions such as Congressional and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) directed Expedite Hiring Authorities, Direct Hiring Authorities, other non-competitive and delegated examining hiring authorities, compensation and pay setting for over 20 Federal pay systems, incentives to include relocation, retention (group and individual), recruitment, student loan repayment, service credit for annual leave, fingerprinting and civilian suitability, and civilian deployments including danger pay and hazardous pay differential counseling and processing.

A case manager in the Office of Disability Services, Jennifer works with a cohort of Ohio's STEM Ability Alliance students, as well as with students with ADHD and Learning Disabilities. Her background in classroom teaching and education allows her to focus on developing academic skills that are necessary for success in college. Intensive developmental advising is the core of her work with students.